The+Futility+of+Individuality

**// The Futility of Individuality Carl Burgazli April 7, 2008 Mr. Tanner //**

  Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated “for your nonconformity, society whips you with its displeasure”. He believed that society fights against all attempts for change, and that it took a great amount of will to bring about said changes. This view of society as an immutable machine has been held constant throughout various literary periods, from Transcendentalism through the Contemporary Era. Sylvia Plath, a contemporary writer, reached the same conclusion as Emerson through her own life experiences. Through __The Bell Jar__ and her poems, Plath argues that fighting conformity is futile through the suppression of Ester’s individuality. __The Bell Jar__ is set in America during the 1950s, during the economic boom brought about by the end of World War II. Further indication of a “great society” was that during this era the Gross National Product, a measure of all goods and services, nearly doubled. Many Americans were finally freed from the constrictive chains of blue-collar jobs and took positions in other exploding enterprises. This “great society”, however, failed to cloak its underlying evil: conformity. Society set outrageously high standards for men, women, and families alike. Men were expected to be the head of household and to constantly be promoted, while the women were expected to stay at home and to be as pure as an angel. Most people could not meet these standards, and they began to feel dissatisfied with their life. Everyone felt alone in their dissatisfaction, however, so they struggled on silently. Ester, despite her great position in life, felt dissatisfied with her life as well. Her dissatisfaction is shown when she says “I was supposed to be having the time of my life. Only I wasn’t steering anything, even myself. I felt very still and very empty … moving dully along in the middle of the surrounding hullabaloo.” (Plath, 1971, 2-3). She attempted to deal with her current situation, but somewhere between the prospect of losing her job to being nearly raped, she grew disillusioned to society’s plans for her. Ester finally comes to the realization that her desire to be a writer ends up for naught, for as her “fiancé” Billy states that when she marries, she “would feel differently, and wouldn’t want to write poetry anymore.” (Plath, 85). Such atrocities greatly disturb Ester, leading to her attempted suicide. Ester also felt oppressed and misused by these high standards of society, specifically the apparent inability to own her own body. In the 1950s, there was a double standard for sexual relations between men and women; while women were strongly discouraged from losing their virginity until after they were married, men could do as they pleased. Ester witnesses this double standard through an article given to her by her mother preaching female abstinence and through a discussion with Buddy during which he reveals that he is no longer a virgin, although he still maintains a façade of purity. Ester no longer wan ts to identify herself “ only through the approved feminine "uniform" of Bloomingdale earrings and necklace ” (Pamela Cooper, 1997, 3). She avidly seeks out someone to take her virginity, which she comes to see as an oppressive weight instilled by society. During her time in the rehabilitation center, Ester finally meets Irwin, an older gentleman who takes her to bed. At long last! Ester has freed herself from the chains of society! But one must wonder if she really had succeeded in her goal of becoming an individual. After her suicidal escapade, Ester was admitted to two very different rehabilitation centers. There, they slowly changed her from a suicidal wreck to a “cured” and “normal” person. However, it is up to society, the majority, the very thing that Ester is trying to escape, to decide what is “normal”. Thus, Ester has no option but to conform in order to survive in her world. Her conformity becomes obvious in her attire at the conclusion of the story, which includes polished shoes, stockings, and a flamboyant dress. Such clothes were the norm of college students of the day, something she would not have worn previous to her asylum visit. She now fit the “approved feminine uniform” as dictated by her world and thus was “set free”. Such happenings lend to the saying “one can be freer than a king but be bound tighter than a slave”. Plath further displays the inability for people to fight conformity in her poems. In her poem “Cut”, Plath describes the immediate effects of cutting one’s thumb with a knife. The thumb is used as an allegory for a girl’s choice for sexual enjoyment: it is cut off, decapitated, done away with! Through these allegorical expressions Plath “ addresses societal forces intent on silencing a woman's ability to articulate her sexual nature. ” (Sandra Stricker, 2004, 1). Women were discouraged by society from enjoying sexual relations, and thus they are prevented from enjoying sex outside of marriage. Another significant poem that Plath wrote was “Lady Lazarus” in which a woman is brought back to life by a god named “Herr Doktor”, and is humiliated by his male-dominated society. Unlike the biblical account of the resurrection of Lazarus by Jesus, Herr Doktor forces the Lady to be part of his world. She fights the regime to the point where she states “ Dying\ I s an art, like everything else.\I do it exceptionally well.” ( Laura Johnson Dahlke, 2002, 1). In saying this, Plath conveyed the Lady’s inability to escape her living tomb other than through death. Sylvia Plath, through Ester, __The Bell Jar__, and her poems, annihilates any belief that one can fight against the system. The 1950s were completely about conforming to the impossible. No living being escaped its grasp. This belief poured over into Plath’s poems. But one should take note that Ester’s friend, Joan, did not become “cured”, for she killed herself before she was deemed so. This singular fact present a likewise singular ultimatum of life: one must either conform to the ways of the world, or perish from the face of the earth.

References Cooper, P (1997). "A Body Story with a Vengeance": anatomy and struggle in "The Bell Jar" and "The Handmaid's Tale.". //Women's Studies//, //26//, 89 Dahlke, L. J. (Summer 2002). Plath's Lady Lazarus. //The// //Explicator//, 60, 4. p.234(3). Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Student Resource Center – Gold via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS Plath, S (1971). //The Bell Jar//. Great Britain: Harper & Row, Publishers, Inc. Stricker, S. (Spring 2004). Plath's 'Cut'. //The Explicator//, 62, 3. p.183(5). Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Student Resource Center - Gold via Gale: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS